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on February 21, 1804, in the presence of Homfray, Crawshay, and a government engineer who had come to observe. Trevithick wrote to a friend the next day, “We carried ten tons of iron in five wagons, and seventy men riding on them the whole of the journey … The gentleman that bet 500 guineas against it rode the whole of the journey with us, and is s
... See moreTom Standage • A Brief History of Motion: From the Wheel, to the Car, to What Comes Next
Much more important, his philosophy of railroading—with its emphasis on infrastructure and the primacy of freight—would live on, not only in these lines but in most others as well.
Michael P. Malone • James J. Hill: Empire Builder of the Northwest (The Oklahoma Western Biographies Book 12)
Stephens was the president of the railroad, which was a wholly American-owned stock company with its main office in the old Tontine Building on Wall Street. The capitalization was a million dollars.
David McCullough • Brave Companions
The “Q” was truly one of America’s best and most-profitable roads. Well capitalized, well constructed, and well managed by two of the giant figures of American railroading, John Murray Forbes and Charles Perkins, along with their New England associates, it served a densely populated and fertile agrarian hinterland stretching across Illinois and Iow
... See moreMichael P. Malone • James J. Hill: Empire Builder of the Northwest (The Oklahoma Western Biographies Book 12)
One of James J. Hill’s favorite themes, voiced repeatedly in the years to come, stressed the community of interest, the mutual interdependence, between the railroads and the regions they served. The two must, he reasoned, be rich or be poor together; and any regional carrier, even one with a de facto monopoly, would only harm itself if it gouged co
... See moreMichael P. Malone • James J. Hill: Empire Builder of the Northwest (The Oklahoma Western Biographies Book 12)
But he realized better than others that the SP&P had great potential—if, that is, its lines could somehow be completed before the deadlines expired for completing the trackage and securing the land grants. As a steamboater on the Red, he knew the potential value of the farmlands lying along the Saint Vincent Extension, many of these lands the p
... See moreMichael P. Malone • James J. Hill: Empire Builder of the Northwest (The Oklahoma Western Biographies Book 12)
he was one of the first to comprehend that the day of independent regional roads was coming to an end, that only transcontinental systems offering low through-rates would survive as independent systems. Regional roads, even prosperous ones like the Manitoba, would be swallowed up by the transregional railroads.
Michael P. Malone • James J. Hill: Empire Builder of the Northwest (The Oklahoma Western Biographies Book 12)
Still, Harrison believed in a key message: The transportation infrastructure of North America is vital to the well-being of the continent. Without freight railroads, the economy would be crippled, so why not make them the best? He was all about being the best. Why couldn’t everybody else be?